(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to an outdoor cooker or grill that cooks food by providing direct or indirect heat from a heat source of the grill to the food. In particular, the present invention pertains to an outdoor cooker that has a gas or charcoal heat source that provides direct and indirect heat to foods supported on a cooking surface of the grill by operation of a louver assembly. The louver assembly is added to the grill and is comprised of a manual actuator and a plurality of louvers. Movement of the actuator moves the plurality of louvers between first, upright positions of the louvers that provide direct heating of the food and second, angled positions of the louvers that provide indirect heating of the food.
(2) Description of the Related Art
The typical outdoor cooker or barbecue is basically comprised of a base that encloses a source of heat, a grill that functions as the cooking surface of the outdoor cooker and a cover that protects the interior components of the outdoor cooker when not in use and can optionally be used in cooking. Outdoor cookers are provided in a variety of configurations but are most often given circular or rounded configurations or rectangular or box-shaped configurations. The rounded cookers have a generally semi-spherical base comprised of a bottom wall and a single sidewall that extends around the bottom wall. The box-like cookers have a box shaped base with a bottom wall and four sidewalls surrounding and extending upwardly from the bottom wall. The sidewalls of both cooker configurations support the grill cooking surface above the base bottom wall and above an interior volume of the base that is dimensioned to accommodate a source of heat. In outdoor cookers the common sources of heat include charcoal bricks or briquettes and gas heat.
A disadvantage encountered in using outdoor cookers that employ either charcoal or gas as a heat source is adjusting the heat of the source to achieve the desired cooking rate for food. The cooking heat of charcoal cookers can be adjusted by adjusting the amount of charcoal used as fuel and, in some cookers, adjusting the opening of air vents in the base of the cooker. The cooking heat of gas cookers can be adjusted by adjusting the flow of gas to the cooker.
In both types of cookers the foods can be cooked with the cover removed from the base to allow the heat source to sear or quickly cook the food on the grill on one side before turning or flipping the food to allow searing as quickly cooking the food on its opposite side. Alternatively, the food can be cooked with the cover in place on the cooker where the heat source of the grill will quickly cook the surface of the food resting on the grill cooking surface and will gradually bake or cook by convection the opposite surface of the food. However, in both situations of cooking with or without the cover of the grill in place, the bottom surface of the food resting on the grill cooking surface is subjected to the direct heat of the heat source and cooks quickly, and in many situations cooks at a faster rate than desirable.
Some outdoor cookers have been developed that include drip pans that can be inserted between the source of heat and the grill cooking surface when it is desirable to cook food by indirect heat, and then removed from between the source of heat and the grill cooking surface when it is desirable to cook food with direct heat. In addition, some cookers have been designed with an elaborate system of shutters, moveable channels or heat deflector plates that are component parts of the interior of the outdoor cooker that can be moved between opened positions where they allow direct heat to the grill cooking surface and closed positions where they provide indirect heat to the grill cooking surface. However, the elaborate constructions of these heat controlling mechanisms contributes significantly to the overall cost of the outdoor cooker and to the complexity or difficulty in assembling the component parts of the cooker.